The Club wishes to advise the passing of past player Malcolm ‘Emmy’ Jones

Malcolm Jones was an extremely talented full forward who graced the Sturt teams of the mid-sixties when the Double Blues were establishing themselves as the SANFL pacesetters.

After leaving Unley High School, ‘Emmy’ Jones first made a name for himself as an amateur with University during which time (1963) he represented the SAAFL state team. A fortuitous change in the league boundaries in 1962 meant Jones suddenly became a Sturt player and he arrived unannounced one night and asked if he could train with the club.

A consistently accurate shot for goal with the drop punt, Jones debuted on 15th May 1965 in Round Five and soon established himself as Sturt’s full-forward of choice. He kept his spot and played in Sturt’s losing Grand Final team (scoring six goals) later that year. Over the next two seasons he was an integral part of the Sturt line-up and played in the first two premierships in the club’s run of five straight flags (1966-70).

In the 1966 Grand Final, Jones kicked eight goals in the Double Blues famous scorecard of 16-16 (112) to Port Adelaide 8-8 (56). Jones kicked a club record nineteen goals during the 1966 finals series and topped Sturt’s goalkicking in each of his first two seasons but injuries in 1967 saw Malcolm Greenslade (54) head the goals list. However, Jones was back in the goalsquare for the Premiership victory over Port and the end-of-season clash with Carlton which saw Sturt victorious by 41 points (Jones, five goals).

Jones began 1968 in excellent form and was chosen to represent South Australia against Victoria in Melbourne. He wasn’t to know it then but his career was over. A broken leg in the state match ruled him out for the year and he never again played football for Sturt.

Despite the brevity of his career, when Jack Oatey finally retired, after 21 seasons in charge, he named his best Sturt team from the players he had coached. ‘Emmy’ Jones was chosen at full forward ahead of state representatives Malcolm Greenslade (215 games, 607 goals) and Ken Whelan (126 games, 441 goals) who both had far more extensive Sturt careers as the key forward during this time.

Off field, Malcolm Jones was a pioneer of the computer industry in Adelaide working as a software designer and developer (like his Sturt teammate Rick Schoff). In recent years, Jones has suffered from dementia and his death, though sad and shocking, was not entirely unexpected.

The Club wishes to advise that Life Member Doug Othams passed away aged 91 years on 29 June 2018.

Doug spent many years at the Club as a Member and Official as follows:

1976 – 1989 – Vice President

1990 – Life Member

1978 – 1985 – Committee & Board Member

1976 – 1984 – Sponsor (Graham Douglas Datsun)

Doug left $15,000 to the Club in his Last Will & Testament to the Club. This bequest will be put towards the Building the Blues Foundation fundraising campaign to support the Club’s commitment towards the Unley Oval Grandstand Upgrade Project.

Sturt Football Club regret to advise that Vice President Don Jessop, the former Senator for South Australia and House of Representatives Member for Grey, has died at his home in Adelaide. He was 90.

Born in 1927, he served in the Federal Parliament for almost 21 years from 1966 before returning to his profession of optometry both in Port Augusta and Adelaide.

Mr Jessop attended Mitcham Primary School and Unley High School before studying Optometry at the University of Adelaide. Throughout his life Australian Rules Football and vice presidency of the Sturt Football Club were important winter activities and summer was all about tennis. In retirement, he sang with the Adelaide Male Voice Choir.

The former Senator is survived by Barbara, his wife of 69 years, their three children, Meredith, Lynne and Michael, 11 grandchildren and 17 great grandchildren.

Mr Jessop died on May 21. His funeral service will be held at 10.30am on Monday May 28 at Malvern Uniting Church, 44 Marlborough Street, Malvern, SA.

It is with sad regret to announce the passing of Carol Ann Polulach on Thursday 12th October. Carol, originally from London, had been a long time Sturt supporter and member since her introduction to ‘aerial ping pong’ back in the early 70’s and will continue to be so through her husband Igor’s support.

Carol in her wheelchair was a familiar sight at the northern end of Peter Motley oval. A big thank you to the cheer squad especially Tom who always gave Carol a bear hug. To Chris Findlay and Veronica Ashford thank you for always having a big giggle with Carol.

The Club is deeply saddened by the news of Bernie Lange’s sudden passing Friday August 18, 2017.

Bernie has been a generous supporter of the Club as a Sponsor and Vice President.

For many years Centre State Exports of which Bernie was Chairman have sponsored player No.8, currently Jack Stephens.

Bernie also had an interest in Club Sponsors, Betta Blinds which is run by his son in law Martin.

Born in Maitland, Bernie was committed to regional S.A. In additional to being a life-long Sturt supporter, he was also a supporter of the Adelaide Crows and the former Chairman of the Carbine Club of S.A.

It is with much sadness that the Club advises that Mr. Alfred (“Álf”) Bonds has passed away aged 96.

Alf was the son of Martin Bonds who played in Sturt’s inaugural team in 1901 and is player #3. Martin went on to play 26 games for the Club from 1901 – 1905.

A very humble man, Alf only advised the Club about three years ago that he was Martin’s son. He became good friends with Club Historian Ken Hughes and provided the Club with some very interesting memorabilia and stories.

Last season Alf was invited to toss the coin at one of our home games and joked with General Manager Sue Dewing that he would race her back to the Grandstand. Sue declined the offer noting in all likelihood he would win the race as he was extremely fit in spite of his age. He would jokingly cite his longevity to being a life long bachelor.

Peter was a life long member and supporter of the Club. He resided in Goodwood and would walk to Unley Oval to see his beloved Double Blues.

Peter was an avid collector of Sturt memorabilia. He spent much of his life cataloguing Sturt stories that appeared in print media and put together numerous scrapbooks. It does not feel right to call them scrapbooks, these books were put together with so much loving care and attention to detail.

Peter would create leaflets for every home game outlining the history and graphics of encounters with the opposition team we would be playing. He would spend hours putting these leaflets together. The finished product made you think it was created by a graphic designer on a computer, however he had used nothing more than his ruler, tape and at times electric typewriter to produce. He would then print off several copies to be distributed at the home match lunches and Cambridge Room. He never asked to be reimbursed.

He was an integral member of the Historical Society and researched much of the content outlined in recent publications about the Club.

He spent many hours working with Club Historian Ken Hughes at the Club’s Museum preparing exhibitions, cataloguing and responding to history requests the Club receives from the public. Only last week he and Ken were working on the Club’s presentation for the SANFL exhibition that will held in the Mortlock Library later this year.

He joined the volunteer group The Baggies in 2015 and helped many weekends with maintenance works around the Club including painting the inside of the coaches boxes.

He was a humble man who put Club first and never asked for anything in return. He will be sadly missed.

The Sturt Football Club wishes to advise the passing of past player, Neil Goldsworthy.

Neil was born on the 19th of October 1951. He made his Sturt league debut on the 13th of June 1970 against Norwood at The Parade in front of a crowd 12,168. On that day Sturt 18.16 (124) defeated Norwood 12.11 (83).

Neil won several awards during his football career including the The League Award for Services to Club in 1973.

The club advises that the oldest living, past player Bryce Peake passed away peacefully in his sleep on the 20th of August 2016 aged 98 years.

Bryce made his league debut on August 16, 1941 against the Magpies at Alberton. He was named in the best players and went on to play in that season’s losing Grand Final against Norwood.

He played 38 league games for Sturt between 1941 and 1945.

He moved his family to Sydney in 1960 and in 2005 moved to be with family in Brisbane.

He was awarded Life Membership in 2010 which was said to be one of the proudest moments in his life. He came down to accept his Life Membership wearing his 1940 Sturt blazer.

In his later years he would wear his Sturt beanie whilst watching AFL football supporting both the Sydney Swans and Adelaide Crows. Each week he would receive a parcel from a friend in Adelaide that contained news clippings about his beloved Sturt.

He was very passionate about the game of football and would get quite loud watching games so much that his sister banned him from coming over to her place during football season as the neighbours complained about his barracking.

Cliff Hawkins, who died on the 15th of July 2016, aged 84, was a lifelong Sturt supporter whose many years of service to the club included his role as President of the club in 1985 and 1986.

Cliff had followed the Double Blues since he was a school boy, and by the time he had started taking his young family to Unley Oval in the early 1960’s to watch from the outer, his formal links with the club began.

Cliff became part of the Vice-President’s group in the late 1960’s, and over the next 30 or more years made many lifelong friends at Sturt, including Bo Morton, Tony Clarkson and Roy Colyer, to name but a few.

Cliff assumed the position of Chairman of the Sturt social club operation in the late 1970’s, before taking on the position of President of the football club in the mid-1980’s.

In later years, Cliff remained a regular fixture at pre-game lunches, and maintained his fervent support of his beloved Double Blues even when he was well past being able to attend games.

Sturt Football Club is saddened by the passing of three time Premiership player Peter Endersbee who died on Monday the 28th of June 2016 in Cornwall, England aged 67 after suffering for the last couple of years with brain cancer.

The blond bombshell Endersbee played just 46 games and kicked 65 goals for the powerhouse Sturt sides of the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, but packed plenty into those games, starring in two Grand Final wins.

He was known for his mercurial goal kicking ability and went into folklore in one of them, the 1968 Grand Final triumph over Port Adelaide, slotting two checkside punt goals from the boundary in the north eastern scoreboard pocket.

Long before the Eddie Bett’s pocket at Adelaide Oval was named, it was referred to as the Endersbee Pocket.

The club wishes to advise the passing of Francine Shearman, wife of the late Bob Shearman.

Francine was a regular at the club supporting Bob who joined Sturt in 1966 and later captained the club from 1969-1972.

In her early years Francine was one of Melbourne’s leading models. She started and operated a variety of businesses including a model agency, a chain of beauty salons and a national wholesale beauty supplier. Francine and Bob were also successful hoteliers.

In 1970 Francine became the first female television presenter for the Channel 9 Football Show.

Francine leaves behind her son Scott, daughter Danielle and four grandchildren.

Peter Clancy, a Life Member of Sturt Football Club, passed away peacefully in his sleep on Friday 23 October after a long illness.

Pete began at Sturt as a Statistician when Jack Oatey began coaching the club. Pete sat alongside Jack on the coaches bench every week. Stats in those days were done by one person recorded in a book.

When Sturt created their website, Pete started writing a column called “Clancy’s Column”. This was his version of each game written in a witty and satirical way, most players couldn’t wait to read it on Mondays.

Pete was involved with the Club as a volunteer. He enjoyed talking to all the players. Until his illness prevented him from driving, Pete and Chester (beloved dog) were regular visitors at training and Barzaar.

In his last days he was already selecting his team for the first game in 2016. His pride and joy was his Life Membership Certificate which was always close by him until the end.

The Sturt family has lost a dear friend with the tragic passing of Peter Hall. With family by his side Peter passed away peacefully at home last weekend after a short, but very brave battle with cancer.

Peter was the Secretary of the Club’s Vice President group, but more importantly, a passionate supporter of Sturt Football Club in general.

Words cannot describe the enormous amount of time and energy Peter devoted to the club in his various roles, all of which were performed as an unpaid volunteer. Peter for many years organised the Match Day raffle and most of those that have been to a home game would have met him and heard his famous catch cry “Go on, you know you want to” as he walked around the oval selling tickets. Peter never asked “What can the club do for me, he always asked what can I do for the club.”

Those that knew Peter are indeed the lucky ones, as they have been truly blessed to have been his friend and will have him in their hearts forever. Peter will be sadly greatly missed and always remembered with much affection at Sturt Football Club. Our love and thoughts go out at this very sad time to his partner Alison, daughter Joanna and the rest of his family.

A tall ruckman who made his debut in 1967 and went on to play in the 1967 premiership team who sadly passed away in December, 2014. From the 1967 Annual Report: “A first year player recruited from Millicent, Graeme showed tremendous improvement as the season progressed. Experience gained in the final series should benefit him and the keenness displayed suggests he will be a regular member of the team for some time to come.”

Herbert Leslie John Heylen (Bert) was one of the oldest living Sturt players before his passing, he was born at Murat Bay on the 11th of November, 1915 and died on the 20th October, 2014. Originally from Port Pirie and one of three brothers to play for the club. Herbert Heylen was, according to The News: “One of the best recruits secured by Sturt in 1938.” A solid half back flanker, he made his debut in Sturt’s 5 point victory over Port Adelaide at Alberton on June 18, 1938. A close checker, Heylen (who served his country during the war) usually cleared with a long kick.

Live wire rover Scott Field was recruited from the Adelaide Hills and played for six seasons, winning the 1992 P.T. Morton Medal (League Best & Fairest ) in his last year at the club. Even though he was in the prime of his league career, he retired from football to concentrate on his university studies which ultimately led to him working for the United Nations. Scott tragically died in September, 2014 while climbing Mount Blanc in central Europe. Quote from the book True Blue by former President Guy Lloyd: “On many occasions it seemed he was the player capable of winning the hard ball and matching our opponents in strength and pace. We mostly admire people who can perform well when the odds are stacked against them. This is the true test, and one in which Scott Field has convincingly proved himself.”

Tumby Bay hero, the solidly built rover Roger Dunn was the personification of consistency during his 139 league game career and was a member of the 1966 and 1967 premiership teams, he famously kicked the last goal late in the 1967 Grand Final to ensure the Double Blues victory, he won 3 Mail Medals while playing for Tumby Bay and also captained/coached them to a number of flags.